This is a long film, and you have to sit through a couple of ads, but hang in there.There is a lot here worth watching. These poor kids are being brainwashed in the truest sense of the word. If this is not child abuse, I don't know what is.
If you can't sit through it & I don't blame you if you can't, this is a pretty good outline of the film:

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Yet another day with nothing in the traps. I think they are all busy building their dam at the base of mine (after pretty much ruining mine), and haven't even had the time to try to rebuild the dam they made across my overflow ditch.

That's a good thing. Perhaps I should move the traps. There is still water flowing through the breach, but it seems to be the same amount each day, and most of the water is bypassing the dam via the overflow.
None the less, I have been reading up on how to make felt and hats.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

OK. We are over populated. I doubt you could find any major problem today that can't trace it's roots back to overpopulation. Greenhouse emissions & global warming? Overpopulation. Traffic Jams and over crowded highways at rush hour? It wasn't a problem when I was younger. Overpopulation. Price of fuel? higher demand, higher price. Overpopulation. So should we really limit the number of immigrants and crack down on the illegals? The policy's need to be overhauled to be sure, but the current lunacy in Alabama and some other states is backfiring and hurting the country at it's roots, the farmers. Read this article.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

I subscribed to Mother Jones back in the 60's (at least I think it was that far back), and stopped because the truth as printed was too depressing. Now somehow I find an issue in the mailbox, and I see that my action in the past was probably correct. The cover page story is called: The Secret Hell of Online Shopping or What happens when you click "place order" I became a warehouse slave to find out. This is way too much information. Is this really happening in America? This is just one of the articles in the March-April issue that is shocking, but as I order my share of stuff online to save gas and time, it does take me a back that my convenience comes with a cost to some poor yahoo in the stockroom.
Read it if you want, but it's disturbing.
Now, morally, because of reading this one issue, I can't buy on-line, from WalMart, or purchase any more vitamins. And that's not mentioning all the articles.
I'll see how long that lasts.

My first experience as a beaver trapper ended poorly today when I checked the four traps I set out yesterday. Not one beaver. There were, however, tracks in the mud at the other end of the dam where I didn't set any. Oh well, I should probably give it more than one day. I sort of expected to see at least four caught this morning.
I'm pretty sure we set them correctly, it's a pretty big area and they probably just haven't found them yet.

Starting in on some small trees below the my dam.

The overflow beaver dam that started the war.

Here's a photo I took of some swimming around laughing at me earlier.

I've seen them on the bank & yes they are beaver, not nutria. Although I wouldn't be surprised to catch some nutria as I have in the past in other ponds here.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

We stand at the crossroads, each minute, each hour, each day, making choices. We choose the thoughts we allow ourselves to think, the passions we allow ourselves to feel, and the actions we allow ourselves to perform. Each choice is made in the context of whatever value system we’ve selected to govern our lives. In selecting that value system, we are, in a very real way, making the most important choice we will ever make.

Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father and 6th of President of Pennsylvania in 1785

I'll get some more photos up later. This classic is in beautiful shape. It has never been played above quiet, classical, listening level, the back has never been opened, was purchased new by my father, and has none of the chips and dings that the beat up Metregon that just sold on eBay had. Except for a few small scratches on the top that you have to look for, this one's pretty minty. Wow, are they really that rare? Maybe it will return to Japan. When I sell it, I'm hoping to turn my share into partial payment for a small track hoe, dozer, tractor, fence post pounder, or other such foolishness. I know Budde would like to see it sitting in his living room, but then his wife would probably leave him and he would also probably ruin it by playing the Ledge on it.
More info and photos now at:http://kaleidoscope-glass.com/JBL%20Metregon%20for%20sale%20.htm

Monday, March 19, 2012

Cattle are really stupid! We cleaned off the bridge across Muddy Creek last week. There was a couple of inches of dirt of probably 80% cow leavings. I was concerned that it might not be good for the wood planks. Now the cattle won't cross on their daily trip back and forth in the hope that the grass is better on the other side. We were on our way out in the new (old) truck, and came upon 8 or 10 of them standing around on the house side of the bridge in obvious confusion. Something seemed wrong to them, In the meantime a couple of bulls decided to butt heads in dangerous proximity to the grill of the new (old) truck. One of them backed into it and I was sure the grill was toast, but all was well & they one at a time went past us & back up the road. Now I see them do the same thing every day. They walk down to the bridge, stand around and moo, then decide to go back up the road. I'll try throwing some straw on the planks & maybe that will help them decide that it's safe. I wouldn't care, except that there is only room there for one truck and one cow to pass, and not enough room for a cattle jam.
Does anybody know where I can get a couple of shmoos to breed? I hear they are more accommodating and might be easier to manage.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

A
month after Donald MacDonald started at Harvard, his mother called from
Scotland. "And how are the American students, Donald?" she asked.

"They’re
so noisy," he complained. "One neighbor endlessly bangs his head against the
wall, while another screams all night."

"How
do you put up with it?"

"I
just ignore them and play my bagpipes."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
My apologies to any Scots or pipers out there. This joke came to mind because my pup Daisy, starts to howl any time I drag out the trombone and attempt to play along with a jazz album. She is probably right.

I'm not sure how much it is down because of course I forgot to bring anything to measure with, but here is a before and after photos. John stuck a stick in the water yesterday. That's it in about the center of the picture.

It is high & dry now. The force of the water coming through the beaver hole in the dam is much less now. From a torrent to a pour. We may have stabilized the dam. If we can keep the beavers under control (I'm calling a trapper) we can repair in the summer.

After. Today at noon.

That's the dam on the right leading up to the current beaver home. Now that the water is lower, it is easy to see more of the damage their burrows have caused all along it.

I just realized that we can change the size of these photos after a left click. Pretty neat!

Before:

And, with the help from a good friend in Salem, and twenty gallons of diesel,

After:

With luck, this will get the level below the breach and with the demise of enough beavers , keep it that way until the summer when we can repair the dam.

I did get a shot at one while John was digging, but it was a long one for the Marlin Golden Mountie.

Perhaps he'll come up today alive or deceased. I've been researching on how to make felt, and hats. It would be nice to try to make a fedora out of these floppy tailed rats. If anyone wants to buy me this little track hoe, it's for sale & I really could put it to good use.

The beavers have really done it now. The dam my father built in the 60's at the north end of the farm has been breached.
The rodents dug holes in the middle and at the same time plugged the overflow ditch. It's really more than a ditch, being more of a gully.
It doesn't look like much of a beaver dam, but this is about 6 or 7 feet deep.

I wish I had some tnt. I have to clear the overflow enough so that the water gets down below the breach or the whole dam will be gone in a few days. Of course I don't have any heavy equipment like a back hoe on tracks. There used to be a backhoe for the antique 420 JD crawler, but for some reason Dad sold it for scrap rather than buy a few new hoses. We are going to see what we can do by hand tomorrow. The beavers will probably fix it the next night. If I can keep the water below the breach until the summer, I can fix the breach.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Sooner or later I'll find a small 4x4 fire truck like we used to use for brush fires when I was a volunteer with the NHCVFD back in the sixties. It will be in perfect condition and below $2,000.00. Maybe it will be found in a barn.
Last night my house did it's best to catch on fire. We heat with wood and the old furnace is in the basement. I was trying to get some heat out of some elm which I brought down there thinking it was oak, and I left the back damper closed and the front vent open to get the air flowing. Well it did. The flames were shooting out of the cap and the last couple of feet were red hot. I got the roof wet with the hose & cooled the pipe down until it went out. I was afraid it was going to melt and collapse on the house. Of course the wisest thing would have been to blow off an extinguisher into the pipe from the basement, but I was afraid to leave the hose. From now on I get it swept every year, not every three like the guy that installed the $3,500. SS chimney pipe said. Ill start today if I can find somebody.

Friday, March 9, 2012

I'm a big fan of rare earth magnets. I bought a bunch of them in different sizes. They are really useful.
I stick the nickel size magnets in various places in my farm Jeep to hold tools. One on the dash holds a pair of pruning clippers, and another a pair of fence pliers. I have some smaller ones to keep the shower curtain in place around the cast iron tub. Need to hide a car or key? A little J&B Weld glues a magnet to the key and it will never fall off, and you can hide it in places no other container or piece of wire will work.
These things are way more powerful than they look. The fence pliers are pretty heavy, and stuck vertically on the dash, they don't budge.
I happened to see this magnet for sale on eBay."Antipodal Rare Earth 700 Pound Huge Monster Neodymium Super Magnet"This is one humongous magnet! They get stronger as they get larger, and if a couple of small one can draw blood if they get too close together and pinch you, I can only imagine the power of this baby!
The first thing that crossed my mind was.......What if it got too close to the side of the semi trailer & got stuck? How would you ever get it off?

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

We bought a truck the other day. I think it's a little on the flashy side & I think I'll remove the base ball cap thing on the top of the cab. It's a 1999 with 170,000. miles on it, but not a scratch on the original paint job.

I felt a little guilty about the whole thing as my 1971 IH still runs, but as a friend said: "It is ok to buy a new used truck every three decades". It also has a nice place for Daisy dog to ride behind the front seats.

And the IH:

I'll miss the dump bed, but the new one has a M12,000 Warn winch on it which will be useful while cutting firewood for the winter.

Well, today my wife and I celebrate our six year wedding anniversary. She gave me ample warning days ago, so I remembered and bought the obligatory mushy card. I always tell her when she says "Can you believe that we have been married ___# of years?" , that it seems like forever. She understands that I mean it as a good thing, and that I feel like she is so much a part of me.
We're going to The Blue Goat for dinner in the new (old) truck.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Have you ever felt really bad about something and wanted to apologize, but in some way didn't really want to?
Write the letter in remorse code.
This way you feel good & have redeemed yourself and
The other guy has no clue!